North and Back is historical fiction and addresses the relationships of fathers and sons. The protagonists are a runaway slave and the son of his master, Charles Cole, who were best childhood friends. The book starts in 1863 but then goes back in time to when the plantation was first developed right after the revolutionary war by Charles Grandfather.
In an historically correct manner the story follows Charles from his youth through his studies at West Point, out into the Army fighting Indians in 1856 and in 1861 to fight on the Confederate side of the Civil War. Charles noted how poorly the Mexicans and Indians were treated by both the Soldiers and the Church and when he returns to the plantation he is quick to correlate the treatment of the plantation slaves to that of the Indians of the west.